Leicestershire Cricket Club have signed South Africa’s Rilee Rossouw for the final stages of the NatWest T20 Blast in England.

Rossouw will play in the final six NatWest T20 Blast group games of the summer to provide cover for Umar Akmal, who is playing in the Caribbean Premier League.

Rossouw’s signing is a big coup for the Foxes and his first game will be against Derbyshire Falcons at the Fischer County Ground, Grace Road on Friday, 8 July.

The 26-year-old is part of South Africa’s World T20 squad. Rossouw has also had a spell in the India Premier League where he played alongside Elite Performance Director Andrew McDonald for Royal Challengers Bangalore during the 2012 tournament.

McDonald said: ‘Rilee is a player that I know very well and he’ll be a fantastic addition to our squad both in terms of talent and temperament. He is a powerful batsman and having another left-hander in our batting line-up will prove to be useful.

‘Umar made a massive impact for us while providing cover for Grant Elliott in 2015 and it’s great that we’ll now have cover for Umar when he goes to play in the Caribbean Premier League in July. Rilee is an ideal player to bring in and it’s great that we’ll have two overseas players available throughout the tournament.’